Aperture cards



SePt- 17, 1963 J. F. LANGAN ETAL 3,103,756

APERTURE CARDS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Aug. 6, 1962 w Amma? @Ew/www2 N MU Hiw MO @2HE/:m0 OH Dmmmw 10: Q y @mE/ E Mwvcm UZEHQ INVENTORS JOHN LANGAN GLEN P. ROBlN5ON,JR. BY

ATTORNEYS' Sept. 17, 1963 J. F. LANGAN ETAL 3,103,755

APERTURE CARDS FledAug. 6, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTORS JOHN F. LANGAN GLEN P. RoBmsoNpR ATTORNEYS United States Patent @hice 3*,l03,755 Patented Sept. 17, 1963 3,103,756 APERTURE CARDS John F.`Langan and Glen P. Robinson, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., assignors to Langan Aperture Cards, Inc., Greenvale, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Ang. 6, y1962, Ser. No. 214,928 1 Claim. (Cl. Litl-45S) This invention relates to improvements in cards adapted for mounting project-able transparencies such as for example film record cards in which individual microfilm sections are mounted to facilitate the handling, filing and storage of the transparencies, and also the sorting out, projecting and if desired the reproducing of individual transparencieswwhen desired. The invention relates especially to novel blank cards adapted for such uses and to their manufacture.

The invention is particularly useful in mounting microfilm sect-ions in cards that |are capable of being sorted mechanically, although it is not limited to this use as explained hereinafter. Various types of mechanical sorting systems are well known. They range from systems in which groups of related cards can be separated and extracted from a stack by inserting a pin or like instrument through aligned holes in the edges of the cards, to the elaborate and well known IBM system in which the cards are perforated according to a code Iand are sorted by electrically controlled apparatus responsive to the location of the perforations in the individual cards. However, the invention also comprehends the mounting of projectionable transparencies, including yall types of photographic film records, in ordinary file cards, catalog cards, Iand the like.

With 4reference to machine sorting of the IBM type, the present invention comprises important improvements of the punch cards or aperture cards disclosed in the prior Langan Patents Nos. 2,511,859, 2,512,106 and 2,587,022, as well :as in the preparation and use `of such cards. Aperture cards of the type shown in these prior patents have been very widely used, especially by the United States Government. By way of example, a recent program of standardization of the preparation and distribution of engineering data by this system, such as drawings, specifications and the like, in one particular Government field is estim-ated t` require 90 million aperture cards initially and average annual usage thereafter of 15 million aperture cards.

The merit of such aperture card system is attested by their widespread adoption iand successful use, in spite of serious defects of prior syste-ms which `are corrected by the lpresent invention. One such defect has had to do with the blank cards as supplied heretofore in bulk quantity to the ultimate user, i.e., before the film is mounted therein. As disclosed in the prior Langan Patent No. 2,511,859 mentioned above, these blank cards are distributed with the aperture already formed and with a strip of pressure-sensitive adhesive material secured to the backside of the card around the edges of the aperture, a narrow section 1of this strip extending into the laperture with exposed adhesive thereon for subsequent mounting of a transparency in the aperture. This exposed adhesive is covered by a temporary sheet of glassine paper or similar material.

.In the first place, such blank cards cannot ordinarily be furnished to a prospective user in large supply because they must be used Within Ia relatively short period or else the adhesive deteriorates to the point where adequate bonding of the transparency cannot be secured. In large part because of this inability to store reserve supplies of blank cards, the common practice has been for the customer to send his microfilm to `a Icentral service center 2 where the individual film sections are mounted in the cards. The fact that the customer cannot cut out and mount sections himself, as and when desired, has heretolfore made :for inliexibility in the use of the aperture cards Iand has detracted seriously from the utility and desirability of aperture card systems.

The factor mentioned above also makes it practically yimpossible to use aperture cards for mounting two or more sequential transparencies on the same card, 'as is often desirable in order to post a record of successive stages of development of a project. -In such cases, it is desirable to mount the first transparency in one aperture of a card, andto be Iable to supplement the original record by mounting a second transparency at some late-r date in a ysecond aperture of the same card. Using cards of the type heretofore used, however, when the time came for mounting the second transparency, the pressuresensitive `adhesive material around the second aperture would no longer be effective so that a separate card would have to be used.

Another problem arises from frequent sticking together cording to a mechanical sorting code, or for the operations of mounting sections of film therein, or during subsequent use of the finished cards for machine sorting, projection, and the like, is hindered to an extent which militates seriously against the usefulness of such systems.

Furthermore, any increase in thickness o-f such cards is very undesirable. Even though an applied strip of adhesive may only increase the thickness of a card by an extremely small amount, say 1A000 of an inch, still 'when a deck of 1000 or more cards are stacked in a file drawer as is often the case, there will be a difference of an inch or more in the length of one side o-f the stack as compared with the other.

Still further .objections to priorv systems arise from the fact that the operations involved in preparing the blank cards, i.e., punching out the apertures yand `then applying the adhesive strips and the cover sheets, as well -as the operations involved in finishing the cards including stripping off the cover sheets and disposing of them and then applying the transparencies to the exposed adhesive strips, Iboth require objectionably elaborate land expensive apparatus such as illustrated for example in the prior Standish Patent No. 2,666,543, the prior Morrison Patents Nos. 2,493,159, and 2,560,301, and the prior Baker Patent No. 2,643,786. Many iusers of aperture cards hav-e only arrelatively small number of transparenciesto be mounted at one time, and this only sporadically, so that they cannot justify the expense of purchasing and maintaining such elaborate equipment but must again rely on service centers such fas mentioned above.

But perhaps a more basic objection is that the bond between the transparency and the card is not secure enough in many cases. For example, underordinary conditions loff usage, fa deck comprising say 1000 cards bearing microfilrned engineering drawings should last for years despite repeated handling incident to removing the card from and returning them to the drawer, riflling decks of cards before placing them'in sorting machines, hand-ling individual cards in projection machines, print copiers, and the like, etc. In the course of such manipulations, the lcards are repeatedly subjected to twisting and bending from all angles. Unless the bond -between the film section and the card is continuous, strong, and permanent, separation of the film from the adhesive mav eventually as occur with the result that the card must be thrown away and the film section re-mounted in a fresh blank card.

Added to the above disadvantages is the fact that even though the ape-rture in the blank card is covered by a temporary removable cover sheet, still the presence of the aperture is undesirable for various reasons. It obviously detracts from the mechanical strength of the blank card, and it may interfere with and hinder the perforation of the card for mechanical sorting before the transparency is mounted.

Various attempts Ihave been made to eliminate the use of such pressure-sensitive adhesives and to remedy the defects mentioned. By way of example, the prior Langan Patent No. 2,587,022 suggests heat Ibonding of thermoplastic materials to the card, proposing to cover the aperture with la sheet of cellulose acetate and to bond its edges by heat and pressure to the edges of the card around the aperture. The Imaterial of this cover sheet was proposed to be the same as or similar to that of the base of the film itself, with rthe thought that subsequently the film section and the cover sheet could be united integrally by 'heat and pressure to form a unitary transparency across the aperture. Usually heat damage to the film resulted, however, such as clouding and/ or buckling or warping of the film. Moreover, the bond formed by heating the cellulose acetate cover sheet and pressing it into contact with the card, or by doing the same thing to the edges of the cellulose acetate base of the film itself as suggested in the prior Langan Patent 2,633,655, was unsatisfactory. lf the degree of heat was only lenough to soften the cellulose acetate fit would not penetrate lthe fibers of the card and the bond was weak and unsatisfactory. Attempts to increase fluidity by raising the temperature usually caused warping or :buckling of the card itself.

A step toward the elimination of the above difficulties has been disclosed and claimed in the copending application lof John F. Langan, Serial No. 70,814, filed November 2l, 1960, and entitled Aperture Card System. As disclosed in this prior application, the strength of Vthe eventual bond between the film and the card is materially increased by applying a solution of thermoplastic material to the card so that it soaks into the card fibers. Accordingly when the solvent dries out, the thermoplastic solute tis left not only on the surface of the card but also beneath its surface and distributed on and among the fibers of the card structure. Then when the bond is ultimately formed, this thermoplastic material and the thermoplastic ilm base as well are sof-tened by heat so as to become tacky and merge or weld together under pressure to join the film to Ithe card with a bond strength that is much higher than can he obtained by mere surface adhesion. AIt has been found, however, that the heat required to secure effective welding is still excessive and that warping or other damage to the card usually results.

One solution of the foregoing problems is disclosed and claimed in the copending application of John F. Langan, Lorimer Clayton, Jr., and Grant E. Allen, Jr., Serial No. 191,117, filed Apnil 30, 1962. In this case the bond between the film section and the card is formed by an adhesive carried by the card which is dry and nonsticky or non-tacky at ordinary temperatures but becomes tacky and adhesive at temperatures approaching 200 F. and above. Thus the amount of heat required to effect good bonding is so limited that damage to the card is avoided. At the same time, however, there :is no material softening and/or plastic deformation of the film itself and therefore other provisions must be made to prevent an impermissible increase in thickness of the combined card and film. This is prevented by a special grinding procedure that constitutes a part of the invention of said application Serial No. 191,117, and is also utilized in the present invention as will now be described.

lreferably '(but not necessarily as pointed out below) the first step in the present invention is to indent one side of the card around the outline of the aperture eventually to be cut therein, so as to form a trench-like depression in one face of the card and a corresponding ridgelike projection embossed on the opposite surface of the card. It will be apparent that this stamping or embossing loperation can =be performed by any suitable type of r6- ciprocating or rotating die mechanism. While it has been proposed heretofore to pre-dimple such cards by compressing the edges of the aperture, as for example in the prior Patent No. 2,633,655, the extent of such dimpling that can be produced merely by compression, without embossing the opposite side of Kthe card, is limited by the compressibility of the card material and as a prac- -tical matter a depression of say,0.0010.002 inch is about the maximum that can be realized with the usual card having an initial thickness of approximately 0.0067 inch. Such depressions are not of sufficient depth to accommodate the thickness of the film (varying from about 0.003 about 0.0055 inch) and accordingly :a very large amount of thinning of the margins of the film by plastic flow and deformation is required in order to approach the desired final condition illustrated in said prior patent. According to the present invention, on the `other hand, grooving or indentation of the card on one side can easily be made much deeper by permitting the card to be embossed on the other side, the stamping or embossing operation producing a sont lof bending or folding of the card material instead cf compression thereof.

The next step according to the present invention is to remove the ridge-like embossed projection from the opposite surface of the card in any suitable manner so as to restore the surface on this side of the card to a planar condition. This can be accomplished by any suitable cutting or shaving operation, but most conveniently `by high speed grinding or abrasion applied to the cards while moving relatively past the Agrinding device. This produces a card ywhich is substantially planar over one side, and is planar on the other side as well except that around the outline of the aperture eventually to be cut out, there is a trench-like depression the bottom of which is formed by la thin web of card material. When the portion of the card surrounded by this trench is eventually cut out to form the aperture, the combined thickness of the film and of the ledge around the aperture (which ledge previously formed the bottom of the groove) is not materially, if any, more than the thickness of the card. By way of example, a card initially 0.0067 inch thick may `be embossed and ground to a web thickness of about 0.015- 0.002 inch in the bottom of the trench around the aperture and the added thickness of the usual silver halide film of say 0.0055 inch makes a total of around 0.007 inch.

It will be understood that the 4depth to which the blank cards are stamped or embossed, vand the corresponding thickness of the card material at the bottom of the groove may vary depending upon the kind of film to be mounted, the web being for example from about 0.004 inch to about 0.002 inch or less for film varying in thickness within the range stated above.

In cards of the type disclosed in the aforesaid application Serial No. 191,117, the heat-activatable adhesive is applied to the thinned strip-form sections of the card which are formed by the above embossing and grinding operations. When it comes to the operation of mounting the film section, the aperture in the card is first out out, after which the film section is placed in registry with the aperture and with its `edges overlapping the adhesivecoated thin ledges around the aperture, then the film and card are pressed together around the overlapping edges while at the salme time just enough heat is applied to activate the adhesive. Excellent results have -been attained in this way, but still it is desirable in the interest of simplification of mounting equipment and of the mounting operation to dispense with the use of heat altogether. The aforesaid application Serial No. 191,117discloses activation olf the adhesive by the addition of a solvent at the time of bonding, but this method also involves undesirable complications.

The chief object of the present invention is to provide a novel card .of the type described which meets the requirements set forth above and in which the adhesive can be activated to mount the film without the use of any heat or the addition of any solvent whatsover, land preferably by the application of pressure alone.

To the above ends, the present invention makes use of so-called encapsulated adhesives of the type prepared by methods such as are disclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,800,457 and 2,800,458 (Reissue No. 24,899), both granted November 29, 1960, to Barrett K. Green. Typical products prepared by such methods are disclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,907,682, 2,986,477, 2,988,460 and 2,988,461 to Herman I. Eichel. In such cases the application of pressure ruptures the capsules and releases materials `which provide a tacky adhesive in various ways, such as combinations of adhesives and activating solvents, adhesive materials which require subsequent heating to become effective, adhesive materials which are or become flowable upon release and then set or dry to form a permanent bond, etc. As used hereinafter, the term pressure-rupturable encapsulated adhesive refers generically to adhesives of the type illustrated in and by the Green and Eichel patents, although it will be understood from what has been said above that for most purposes those materials which do not require heat are preferred. The capsules are formed in :a liquid carrier, forming a suspension or slurry which may be coated on a -desired article and dried, leaving an adherent layer cf pressure-rupturable capsules.

Heretofore the use of such pressure-rupturable encapsulated :adhesives on aperture cards has been precluded for practical reasons. Manual handling of the cards, or passing them `through coding and/or punching machines, was apt to cause at least some of the capsules to rupture prematurely and consequently the cards were apt to stick together. Even pressures due to the weight of stacked cards in storage could cause premature rupture and consequent blocking of the cards.

In the present invention, however, the narrow trenchlilre depressions formed by embossing and grinding, on the order of 1/s in Width and 0.0040.005 in depth, act as receptacles in which -a layer of pressure-rupturable encapsulated adhesive of the width of the trench and on the order of 0.002-0003 in thickness can be deposited with its exposed upper surface lying below the plane of the card surface and thereby protected against premature rupture from causes such as `stacking Weights and pressures, scraping effects during mechanical handling, and the like.

For mounting, the portion of the card 4that is outlined and surrounded by the adhesive-containing trenches is removed in any suitable manner, for example, by :a suitable punching operation, thereby forming an aperture in the card surrounded by their adhesive-coated ledges as already described. When the film section is in place, it is only necessary to apply enough pressure to rupture the capsules and release and/or activate the adhesive.

One embodiment of the invention has been illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, but it is to be expressly understood that said drawings are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be ltaken as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claim for this purpose.

In the drawings,

FIG. l is a diagrammatic illustration of the sequence of steps involved in preparing blank cards embodying `the present invention in automated manner;

FIG. 2 is la plan view of one of the finished blank cards;

FIG. 3 isa section on the line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are sectional views corresponding to FIG. 3 but showing subsequent successive steps in the completion of the blank cards;

FIG. 6 illustrates diagrammatically the step of cutting out the aperture in `a blank card;

FIG. 7 shows the operation of bonding a section of film in place on the card; and

FIG. 8 shows lthe completed card with the lm mounted therein.

Referring Erst to FIG. l, a stack of cards to be processed is indicated by the numeral l at the left hand side of the figure. For example, these cards may be punc cards of the usual type employed with the IBM system of tabulating card machines, being formed of card stock having a specified thickness of 0.0067 inch with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.0004 inch. As will be understood, the stack of cards can be supported in any suitable magazine from which the cards are fed one by one in succession from the bottom of the stack in the direction indicated by the arrow 2, such feeding mechanisms being well known in the art.

As already stated, the first step according to the present invention comprises 1an embossing or stamping operation. When the cards are to be printed, this embossing operation can be combined with the printing press if desired so that the printed cards leave `the press in embossed condition, but as here shown for purposes lof illustration, the embossing operation is performed by passing the cards longitudinally in succession between the upper embossing roller 3 and a lower backing roller 4 of rubber or the like. One of the cards is yshown at S as it passes between lthese rollers and is embossed in the desired pattern by means of dies 6 carried by the Vroller 3` at peripheral intervals corresponding with the rate of feed of cards S.

A detailed diagrammatic view of one of these embossing dies is shown in FIG. 1A. It comprises raised ribs 7 exltending circumferentially of the roller 3 and parallel to but spaced from one another, the ends of these ribs being cross-connected by transverse ribs 8 so that the ribs together form a rectangular outline to be embossed on the card S. Of course, other shapes may be desirable. The height of the ribs 7 and S will obviously be predetermined so as tto produce embossing of the desired depth, depending upon the thickness of the film to be mounted and to some extent also on the yieldability of the rubber backing roller 4. It will be evident that a similar die arrangement can be provided on a conventional reciprocating stamping die.

Having been embossed, ithe cards pass from the rollers 3, 4 to a second set of rollers 9 and 10 which accomplish the operation of removing the embossed ridges from the back of the card as described above. IIn order to provide the desired support against the pressure of the operative lower wheel 10, the upper wheel 9 carries a series of die-like supports 11 similar in size and shape to the dies 6 of the roller 3. The grinding wheel, by way of example, may be an aluminum oxide wheel running at a surface or linear peripheral speed of approximately 2300 feet per minute, having `a Wheel grit size of 46-60 and wheel hardness in the range of G to J (the letters at the beginning of the alphabet indicating softer grades). Of course, these values are not critical; for example, the linear peripheral speed of theV grinding wheel may vary between approximate limits of 1800 feet per minute and 3000 feet per minute.

IReferring to FIG. 3, the depth of embossing by the dies l6 may be approximately 0.0045 inch, in the case or" relatively thick lm such as the usual silver halide film which approximates 0.0055 inch. In such `a case, the height of the ribs forming the dies 6 at supports 11 should -be somewhat higher, say in the range of 0.006 inch to 0.01 inch. In passing between the rollers 9 and 10, therefore, the embossed ridges are removed from the back of the card as explained above, converting it from the condition shown in FIG. 3 to that shown in FIG. 4 and leaving .a web thickness of about 0.002 inch.

For the purpose of applying the coating of pressurerupturable encapsulated adhesive, it will be desirable of course to employ mechanical devices. FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically a backing roll 12 and a printing roller 13 between which the cards 5 pass in succession, the roller carrying suitable means 14 such as a pad, or wick `.arranged to apply the adhesive material in a pattern corresponding with the pattern of embossing and grinding previously performed. Any suitable type of adhesive supply can be employed, and for purposes of illustration FlG. 1 shows a supply roller 1S rotating partially submerged in a bath 16 of the adhesive slurry and transferring this slurry to the applicator means 14.

Following the application of the adhesive slurry, which dries rapidly (this can be hastened by conventional means such as hot air blasts, infra-red radiation or the like), the cards 5 pass to any suitable receptacle here shown as a stack 17.

FIG. 3, as already noted, shows the condition of the blank cards after having passed between rollers 3` and 'i. During this passage, die members 6 create an indented groove 18 on one side of the card `and a corresponding ridge-like projection 19 on the other side. As will be understood from the foregoing general description, the groove 1S may be approximatelyl/s inch wide and follows the rectangular outline of the aperture eventually to be eut in the card.

The card 5 next passes between :the wheels 9 and 1t), where its condition progresses to that shown in FIG. 4 wherein the ridge-like projections 19 of FIG. 3 have been ground away, leaving the thin webs 2n forming the bottom of said grooves and connecting the surrounding major portion of the card indicated at 21 with the rectangular section 22 which is eventually to be removed to form the aperture. As already pointed out, these webs 20 may be as little as 0.0015 inch to 0.002 inch, and while they are quite narrow (usually 0.125 inch), nevertheless in the condition shown in FIG. 4 they may be too weak for safety in storage, distribution and handling of such cards before the lm is actually inserted therein. Application and drying of the adhesive slurry results in building up a relatively thin but substantially continuous external layer of solid pressure-rupturable encapsulated adhesive indicated at 23. As a result, the inherently weak thin webs 20 `are substantially strengthened to withstand all normal conditions of use of the blank cards, including not only manual handling but often the punching of said cards by machine according to desired machine sorting codes, etc. At the same time these webs are pushed in by the applicators 14 as shown in FG. 5.

When it cornes to mounting the desired section of lm tin a card of the type described, the first operation is to die out the aperture as indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 6 in which a suitable punch 24 punches out the section 22 through an opening in the base Z5 by which the card 5 is supported. As shown, the dimensions of the opening of the base and of the punch are ysuch that the cut is made through the thin webs 20 around the section 22, leaving the major portions of these webs projecting into the aperture. Having thus formed the aperture, the desired section of hlm is then brought to the position shown in FIG. 7. Here the card 5 rests on a supporting table 26 having an aperture of substantially the same size and shape as the card aperture bounded by the webs 20 which are overlapped by the edges of the lm section. The film section is in direct contact with the coating 23 of adhesive material which is preferably applied to the ground areas of rthe back of the card as already stated. This preferred arrangement is shown in FIG. 7, wherein the film, comprising :the usual base 27 coated with the usual emulsion 218 is positioned with its edges overlapping the coated webs 20. Pressure is then applied by means of `any suitable pressure plate or die 29, with the result that the webs 20 and the lrn itself are forced downwardly in the aperture in the card to a position substantially as indicated in FTG. 8 in which the outer surface of the emulsion side 21S of the film is substantially flush with the upper surface of the card. At the same time the outer surface of the base 27 of the film is bonded to the underlying webs 20 by virtue of the rupture of the capsules under the applied pressure and consequent activation of the adhesive, and with accompanying thinning of the adhesive layer until said outer surface is substantially flush with the lower surface of the card for practical purposes. By way of example, the total thickness of the web (say 0.0015) and of the lm (about 0.0055) is 0.007 inch which is within the prescribed tolerance limits of card thickness.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been yspecifically described and illustrated, it is to be` understood that the invention is not restricted to this embodiment and that reference should be had to the appended claim for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A record card adapted to be apertured at a predetermined location for projectably mounting sections of microfilm and like projectable transparencies which comprises a ilat relatively thin card of fibrous material of uniform thickness except for a thinner narrow elongated strip forming a trench-like depression which extends around the outline of the aperture to be formed in the card, said strip forming a web which connects the card section surrounded thereby with -the outer sections of the card as an integral structure and said card sections and said strip all having a continuous and substantially identical fibrous structure, and a dry, solid, non-tacky, potentially adhesive material coating said strip in the bottom of said trenchlike depression with its outer exposed surface below the plane of the card surface in which said depression is formed, said coating comprising a profusion of pressurerupturable capsules containing materials releasable by fracture of said capsules and effective on release to tackify said coating.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNTTED STATES PATENTS 2,294,159 Calabro Aug. 25, 1942 2,633,654 Roetger Apr. 7, 1953 2,977,017 Herzig Mar. 28, 1961 2,984,921 Herzig u May 28. 1961 

